Church of Santa Maria della Purità

The Church of Santa Maria della Purità is a treasure trove of works of art in the heart of Gallipoli, a real art gallery where the past and devotion are told through images. Was built between 1662 and 1665 at the behest of the brotherhood of the 'Bastasi' (the longshoremen). The façade, bordered laterally by two pilasters and ending with a 'carparo' sandstone cornice, has two small windows placed in axis with the two access portals and three majolica panels depicting the Madonna della Purità, San Giuseppe and San Francesco d'Assisi. The interior, which houses a marble main altar, is decorated with sumptuous eighteenth-century stuccoes, canvases, paintings, wooden stalls and a nineteenth-century majolica floor.Continuing along the ancient walls, it's possible to admire in sequence some worthy churches, such as that of San Francesco d'Assisi, the pure white of Santa Maria degli Angeli, that of Santissimo Crocefisso with the typical red-ocher facade and the Church of San Domenico al Rosario.